‘Singing’ from the Chandelier

There is no such thing as a sure thing in horse racing, but Fox Hill Farm’s ‘TDN Rising Star’ Songbird (Medaglia d’Oro) looks to have eight of her peers squarely over the barrel in Saturday’s GI Chandelier S. at Santa Anita, the California prep for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Oct. 30.

The dark bay filly has made her purchase price of $400,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale look every bit a bargain, as she walloped a field of Del Mar maidens by 6 1/2 lengths going six panels at first asking July 26 and followed that with an easy-at-it-looked, 5 1/4-length defeat of Pretty N Cool (Scat Daddy) and longshot Land Over Sea (Bellamy Road) in the GI Del Mar Debutante Sept. 5.

“She has such a beautiful stride,” owner Rick Porter told the TDN’s T. D. Thornton Thursday. “When she works, [trainer] Jerry [Hollendorfer] and [jockey] Mike [Smith] tell me she’s just like in a gallop. She does it so easily. She hasn’t been two turns yet, but we drew a decent post and we’ll just have to see how she handles two turns. She’s certainly bred to.”

Trainer Bob Baffert sends out a pair of runners as he goes in search of a record-equaling ninth win in the race, run as the Oak Leaf S. until 2012. Pretty N Cool earned easily the field’s best Beyer Speed Figure (95) when validating even-money favoritism in a rare sloppy maiden at Del Mar July 19, and was not nearly as fast, but almost equally impressive in landing the GII Sorrento S. by nearly three lengths Aug. 12. Though well held by Songbird in the Debutante, she toughed it out inside of that rival through a half-mile in :44.84 and did well to hold for second. Land Over Sea rallied from the latter half of the field to round out the triple and brings two-turn experience into this, having graduated over a grassy mile at Del Mar July 29.

Baffert’s other chance is Jade Princess (Tapit), who ballooned to finish a distant fifth in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden at Del Mar Aug. 9, but turned it around in her latest to score by 5 1/4 lengths over a mile Aug. 27. She would need to improve dramatically on her 58 Beyer, but she covered the second-widest trip in the field and traveled 25 feet further than the runner-up that afternoon. She fetched $775,000 at Keeneland September for a reason and she certainly has the right to improve from here.